SEOUL, March 20 (Xinhuanet) -- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated here on Sunday that the United States has no plan to attack the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

    "We have absolutely no desire to attack North Korea. We have no reason to want to do so," Rice made this remarks in a group interview with South Korean Internet news outlets.

    "We understand that North Korea is a sovereign state ... North Korea does not need to worry the United States intends to attack it," Rice said.

    The US senior official arrived in Seoul on Saturday evening fora less than-24 hour trip here.

    In the interview which was broadcast through a local famous internet outlet named Daum, Rice also urged the DPRK to make a "strategic choice" to give up nuclear program.

    "In fact, in the context of making a strategic choice to give up their nuclear weapons, they could be provided with security assurances. That's the first point," Rice said.

    "Secondly, the US, through six-party talks, put forward a proposal that talked about security assurances, that talked about being willing to look into and try to address North Korea's energy needs. So, that is also a proposal that is on the table if North Korea is prepared to make a strategic choice," she said.

    Earlier Sunday, Rice paid a courtesy call on South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, and held discussions with Unification Minister Chung and South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.

    Seoul is the fifth leg of Rice's six Asian nations tour which had already taken her to India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Japan. She was scheduled to leave for Beijing later Sunday.

    China, the DPRK, the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan have held three rounds of six-party talks in Beijing, aimed to find a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

    However, the scheduled fourth round of the talks failed to be convened as the DPRK refused to go to the talks, citing the US hostile policy toward the DPRK.

    Pyongyang announced on Feb. 10 that it boycotted participation in the six-party nuclear talks "indefinitely" and for the first time, it declared it already had nuclear arms. Enditem